In disaster reduction strategies
Since the beginning of the year, more than 236,000 people have been killed by disasters and nearly 256 million have been affected by earthquakes, floods, tropical storms and landslides according to the latest figures released by the Centre for Research in the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED). Most of these persons live in cities.
This past Wednesday, was International Day for Disaster Reduction. This year’s theme is "Making Cities Resilient: My City is Getting Ready!" The objective is for countries to play a more active role to protect cities against disasters.
For 2010, many cities have been disrupted this year by disasters such as earthquakes in Haiti, Chile and New Zealand.
Floods and heavy rainfalls have impacted Pakistan, Eastern Europe, Mozambique and other parts of Africa.
Forest fires have taken a toll in Russia and volcanic eruptions have caused disruptions in Indonesia and Iceland.
The aforementioned has caused huge human suffering and economic change and cities have never been so at risk.
"Our island nation and in particular the business center of the island, Philipsburg, and surrounding residential neighbourhoods suffered from the overflow of the Fresh Water and Salt Ponds.
"This was caused by the passing of a slow moving low pressure system which later became Hurricane Otto that brought several days of continuous rainfall. Global climate change has been blamed for much of the natural destruction around the globe and this must also be taken into consideration for our island nation.
"The future calls for urban planners to have foresight and place more attention on disaster risk and mitigating those risks to the Philipsburg and surrounding residential neighbourhoods. It is a fact that up to 3,351 cities around the world are located in low-lying coastal zones which may be affected by rising sea levels.
"It is our responsibility as a nation to develop workable solutions to reduce disaster risks and the Government of Sint Maarten will be looking into what additional measures needs to be taken to protect Philipsburg and surrounding residential areas from future flooding," Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams told the Government Information Service (GIS) on Thursday.
CRED estimates that disasters have cost countries US$81 billion in losses from the beginning of the year to 1 September 2010.